Poor QC, badly thought out color-blocking, and Takara's next MP seeker is probably 'black' Starscream, Sunstorm, or maybe even Acid Storm. I definitely want all those things less than a (well executed) MP Dirge. I know they're messing with Takara and Hasbro's intellectual property... but after three years, They've had plenty of chance to do the coneheads, and there's no apparent sign that they're bothered. If they were quick enough on their feet, they could beat iGear to the punch, turn this out before iGear get a chance. I doubt they will. ...although in reality, there's a strong chance that iGear wont get round to producing this any time soon. If ever.
This is the end result of a copyright system, which is essentially a form of protection, which is a euphemism for extortion, racketeering.
You mentioned earlier there's plenty of industries "that do fine without copyright". Which ones are these? And do they rely on heavy investments in R&D and product development?
Copyright is simply a form of protecting whats yours, I dont see how its extortion ? Why should someone else profit from anothers creation or hard work.
Hasbro makes plastic toys. Don't exaggerate their real investment. Isn't it widely known that most of the KO's are coming out of factories that paid most of the capital costs in the first place? That stink you smell is Hasbro/Tomy. I'm glad they have the lawyers on a short leash.
"Plastic toys" is an extensively broad category though. For something like a Transformer, there's going to be resources needed to invest in product development, mold creation, etc. That money has to come from somewhere, and they do have a right to try and get some money back from it, so staff can be paid and they can invest in new products. What is their "real investment", if you're indeed trying to say they really don't need to use as much resources to put out new product?
This. I personally dislike the release version of the MP mold so much I've cut all my official ones up to make them closer to the proto, and as the I-Gear does similar by putting the kibble back on the legs I'd probably prefer them to any offcial version Takara did. But I'd still buy Takara versions if they released them before, during or after the release of these. Chances are, the offical ones would be different enough that I'd be buying 6 new coneheads rather than 3 twice.
Yes, or Porsche. Wasn't anywhere mentioned, they don't want a "war robot" associated with their product? This is so unlogical. Giving not their license is more of bad marketing than anything else. Because for example Jazz is a hero, that's good marketing for Porsche. Saying they don't want to give away the license for a "war robot" makes me think "Stupid people, did you really research what people associate with Porsche and Jazz?"
This is essentially the same argument regarding MP3's. Who is to say that iGear hasn't done any hard work (head, wings, etc.)? They've built on the backs of others, but that is the way all technology has been developed. No one reinvents the wheel. The truth is Hasbro/Tomy pump out product from many molds made over 20 years ago. Their investment has long since been paid back many times over. They subcontract the manufacturing, so their real investment today is near nothing. Yet today, new products are made below technologically equivalent standards of 20 years ago. The computer modeling of today allows much better designs, built on top of what they learned then, yet we don't get that, with few exceptions (Alternity). There are people on radicons who do as good or better design at home. R&D my ass. We get little better than the KO's. In fact, Henkei is at least as far above Hasbro's CHUG as Hasbro's is above KO. See-through plastic, poor paint apps.
And you haven't answered my question yet on which industries you claim are doing fine without copyright. Which industries are these? How many of them are dependent on significant investments in money and manpower for their R&D? Music is not quite the same as children's toys though. In truth, people don't really have to buy the album so long as the song comes up on radio or on MTV/VH1. Not sure if that makes sense. How can today's technology standards be considered below those set two decades prior? Then we're talking two different markets. How many of the pieces put out by Radicons and other customizers are to be handled by children? Sure, we get rankled if the paint apps aren't done right, or if there's a dent, or even if there's a crease on the wrong part of the box, but that's us.
I would say that even the technical planning exceeds the costs that a knock-off company spends in producing a knock-off.
So iGear didn't create any molds, has no staff, and no plans for future products? Respect the size difference, since Hasbro will sell hundreds of thousands of a mold, but iGear has to recoup the exact same investment on a few thousand. Now who is milking?
I am not at fault because of your ignorance. The issue isn't the existence of copyright in a company, which is entirely conceptual, but rather the enforcement of it. In order to enforce copyright you need to have an army of lawyers to intimidate or at least match your competitors. This is a large cost that gets added to the product. Many real companies forgo this by actually innovating. You may not have heard of these companies because you in fact haven't heard of the vast majority of companies that exist. In my city (Vancouver) there are maybe 200 companies doing what I do and most of them will not afford lawyers, even though technically they consider their product copyright. Products undergo regular innovation so anyone copying them will be perpetually behind the times. I am actually happy that Hasbro has not brought out the lawyer hammer on the small innovators. It would be a disservice to the fans and they seem to know that. But if you want something more dumbed down, here is a link to a TED talk. The fashion industry survives without copyright protection -- can the rest of us? -- Engadget
I don't see the point of you grown men arguing here. Hasbro and Takara are the ones that delays this golden opportunity to make money. For whatever reasons, they got "Bitch Slapped" by the third party that "Actually" pays attention to the demands of the fans.... If Hasbro and Takara took their heads out of their asses from the get-go, this would not have surfaced by the third parties.... Yeah I do point the finger at the corporate!
Tarphedon, thank you for providing the link. I will read up on it. I am not at fault for your condescending approach to others inquiring about your claims. Take note, you brought up a generalization, which I sought clarification on.
The ability to afford large capital investments is a result of them already having market share and being successful. This is really an indictment of small companies. If you don't have millions of dollars already then the godfather will send his goons (lawyers) to wreck up your shop. This is also the reason that KO's and small shop products are cheaper than they would be if they cost the same to develop. If iGear could dump 50,000 of this Dirge into an established disty channel, they could sell it for under $50 too.
ARTISTS don't have to actually perform to earn royalties and Hasbro can reissue old molds as much as they want without redoing R&D. Easily. In 1982 they didn't have a decent computer design software, nothing like today. In fact what they did then is very impressive by the standards of the time. But today, we expect not only that they would produce the equivalent, like G1 Sideswipe but just using a modern Lamborghini, but it also must be fully articulated, and have some kind of "automorph" gimmick that would have been practically impossible in 1982. Yet Hasbro/Tomy still fail to deliver on articulation, human proportions, and getting "licenses" that they seemed to have before. They also fail to respect the characters, push characters and models that have demonstrable lack of appeal, and over-produce the top names. Hasbro needs to pull Tomy product to the adult market here and push the children's market to Japan. Why is it that Japanese children get better stuff than adult collectors in the rest of the world?
Then that's how capitalism works. Big business will try to keep their position in the food chain. It's not like HasTak are the only ones guilty of it, and neither is it uncommon for small businesses setting up shop in the hopes that a bigger fish will come buy them out. Japan and the West are two different markets. Some toys will never be sold at your Zellers and Wal-Marts because they don't meet legal requirements or whatnot. If the toy laws can be modified, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe it will help, but who is going to actually push for such changes when the flow is usually towards more stringent safety measures?
